The Summer in Movies According to James Franco

39th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards - Arrivals

James Franco is all over the big screen this summer, with a movie opening every month. Fans of the actor can look forward to the following flicks.

MAY- Palo Alto

Franco plays Mr. B., a soccer coach who comes on to a virginal high schooler in this movie, directed by Gia Coppola. She’s the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola and it’s her first film, which is based on Franco’s own 2010 story collection. The shy, sensitive high schooler, April, is played by Emma Roberts (American Horror Story: Coven). She’s the class virgin and a popular soccer player who frequently babysits for her soccer coach, single dad Mr. B. April negotiates a dangerous affair with Mr. B. while navigating a relationship with a fellow student.

Opens May 23, 2014.

JUNE- Third Person

In June, Franco plays Rick, a New York City-based painter fighting with his ex (Mila Kunis) over custody of their son. This story is one of three intersecting stories involving couples set in three different major cities. The story picks up after Julia (Kunis) is charged with attempting to kill her son, a charge which she firmly denies. As a result of these charges, her son is now in Rick’s custody. He is trying everything in his power to take the boy away from Julia while she is trying equally as hard to regain custody.

Third Person has a stellar cast. In Paris, Liam Neeson plays a writer who recently left his wife (Maria Bello) and is dating Anna (Olivia Wilde), a woman with a terrible secret. In Rome, Adrien Brody is an American business man who falls in love with an Italian woman (Moran Atias). Brody’s character, Sean, tries to help rescue the woman’s daughter after being kidnapped by an Italian gangster, which may or may not be a set up.

Writer and director Paul Haggis told Entertainment Weekly, “I wanted to arrange these narratives in a way that’s a puzzle.” Haggis wrote and directed the outstanding movie Crash, bringing him Oscars for both accomplishments.

Opens June 20, 2014.

JULY- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

In the sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Franco is Will Rodman, his character from the first movie. A lethal plague has wiped out much of humanity, including Will, so it is only in a posthumous came that he appears. Franco implied to Entertainment Weekly that he didn’t realize he had a cameo in the film. “Wait, I have a cameo?” he asked. “I didn’t know that. You know, I don’t even think they asked my permission to do that.” Your fans are happy they went ahead and did it anyway, James.

Opens July 11, 2014.

AUGUST- Child of God

Franco plays Jerry, a member of a vigilante mob hunting down a murderer and necrophiliac in this movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy‘s dark 1973 novel. It is not the actor’s first time adapting difficult literary material. He previous adapted William Faulkner‘s As I Lay Dying, and also has writing and directing credits on this upcoming film.

Opens August 1, 2014.

(Photo by Tommaso Boddi/WireImage)

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